Derya Sert (pictured), from Turkey, had a transplant in August 2011. She subsequently conceived but then miscarried after eight weeks of pregnancy

The first baby from a donor womb could be born next year after nine childless women received transplants.

The women, who were born without a womb or had it removed due to cancer, received organs donated by close relatives.

They will soon try to become pregnant through IVF in a pioneering trial in Sweden that gives hope to thousands of childless women in the UK.

The new wombs, taken from a mother or other living relative who has completed her family, will not only allow the women to experience the joys of pregnancy but will mean they have babies that are genetically their own.

Those whose mother was the donor will be using the womb that carried them for nine months to carry their baby.

The groundbreaking transplants bring hope to at least 15,000 British women of childbearing age. However, the method is controversial because it involves taking wombs from living donors. The Swedish team favours it because the organs are generally in better condition and a better immunological match.

Other surgeons in the same field do not believe it is right to put a living donor through such a major operation when it is not life-saving. They say the best option is to use an organ from a dead donor. This allows them to transplant extra tissue and the major blood vessels needed to take the strain of pregnancy.

Dr Mats Brannstrom, of the University
of Gothenburg, who spent more than a decade perfecting the complex
surgical techniques needed, said: ‘This is a new kind of surgery.’

He
added that the women who received new wombs are doing well and will
soon try to become pregnant using IVF – but there are no guarantees of
success.

The Swedish women all received wombs donated by living female relatives. Image shows the University of Gothenburg team practising how to carry out the operations

Richard Smith, head
of Womb Transplant UK, says the charity is ready to give five British
women wombs from dead donors, subject to receiving ethical clearance
and raising the £500,000 required to cover the cost of surgery. ‘We are
good to go, save for the fact we haven’t got any money,’ he said.

Mr
Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon, described the Swedish
breakthrough as ‘amazing’ and said a successful birth would bolster
similar projects around the world. Any babies the Swedish women bear are
likely to be delivered by caesarean section and the new wombs will be
removed after only one or two pregnancies.

The
women are on powerful immunosuppressant drugs but the biggest worry is
how well a transplanted womb will cope with the strains of pregnancy,
during which the womb swells from the size of a pear to that of a melon.
Critics question the process, with fertility expert Lord Winston saying
the risks are too great and some women should accept that they will
never bear children.

The women had IVF before the transplant, using their own eggs to make embryos

Those in favour say it is the only way for some women to fulfil their deep-seated yearning to have a baby.

Experts say the operations will only be considered a success on the birth of a healthy baby.

Dr
Yacoub Khalaf, medical director of the Assisted Conception unit at
Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London, said: ‘What remains to be seen
is whether this is a viable option or if this is going to be confined to
research and limited experimentation.’

The
world’s first womb transplant took place in Saudi Arabia in 2000.
However, the woman’s body rejected the donated organ after four months.

Turkish doctors performed a successful transplant in 2011, but patient Derya Sert lost her baby during pregnancy last year.

The womb recipients all had their transplants after either being born without a womb or having it removed because of cervical cancer. Picture shows the Swedish surgical team practising the transplant operation